In which I stop smoking, and start vaping.

Long-term readers are familiar with my occasional attempts to free myself from the tyranny of the demon-weed that is tobacco. If you have never smoked, what follows is probably going to sound a little pathetic, but nicotine addiction makes weaklings of us all. And hey kids, don’t start smoking.

I was watching BBC News 24, when along comes a story about a pub that is trying to beat the smoking ban by selling these fancy electronic cigarette devices. Essentially, they’re a battery powered stick that vapourises nicotine and propylene glycol into a sort of heated mist. The story was not entirely supportive, talking about how these were still addictive, and not particularly good for you.

But you know what? I didn’t care about that. I’ve shown that I am a weak-willed creature who is not, right now at any rate, in a place where I am able to kick nicotine. However, while I am physically addicted to nicotine, and psychologically addicted to sucking hot gases out of small stick shaped things, I am not addicted to the 4000 or so other chemicals that are in tobacco, that cause the vast majority of the health problems.

So I ordered this one, and it arrived on Friday. I’ve not smoked since, and I don’t want to. My Electronic Cigarette is filling all my psychological and physical addiction needs. If you are a smoker, get one of these. By the way, I’m not being paid to say this. If they had an affiliate scheme I’d sign up for it, but they don’t. But I am fairly sure that discovering this little gadget is a mildly life-changing experience, and I’d be extremely remiss if I didn’t try to share it with all my fellow prisoners of tobacco.

I’m feeling a little unwell at the moment. Some of the usual withdrawal symptoms you usually get when giving up smoking. Without the constant addition of layers of tar, my lungs are beginning to heal, and are starting to feel sore, which will probably last a week or two. Without the carbon-monoxide in my blood, I have crazy amounts of oxygen in there, which makes me feel a little dizzy and nauseous. With the slow return of my sense of smell, I’m thinking I might need to clean my kitchen a little more often. These things shall pass. But the withdrawal symptom I don’t have? Craving. There is no craving. Even with the strongest nicotine patch I would crave the sensation of smoking, but with these, nothing.

I may, or may not, be a vaper for the rest of my life. I’m still addicted to nicotine, but this method of getting it will not give me cancer (Nicotine, while addictive and toxic, is not a carcinogen), and will cost me about a 6th of the money. The possibility is there for me to move to vapours with less nicotine, and even ones with no nicotine at all. Right now, I’ll stick with the medium strength ones that are working for me.